Microsoft slows dividend growth

Published: 19 September 2012 9:17 AM

SEATTLE, Sept 19 — Microsoft Corp raised its dividend by 15 per cent on Tuesday, marking a slowdown in the growth in payouts to investors after a year marked by a downturn in computer sales and a large write-off for a failed acquisition.

The world's largest software company said it will start paying shareholders 23 cents per share each quarter from December, up from 20 cents. That is the seventh increase since it started paying a regular quarterly dividend in 2004, but is smaller than the 25 per cent and 23 per cent increases the two previous years.

Microsoft's yield, which shows annual dividend payments as a per centage of share price, is now about 2.9 per cent, near the high end of the technology sector. Its shares dipped 0.3 per cent in after-hours trading.

Microsoft, whose share price has been static for the last decade, was one of the first big tech companies to introduce a dividend, starting with an annual payout in 2003, then a special dividend and regular quarterly payments the year after.

Its new dividend yield of 2.9 per cent, based on its closing share price of US$31.17, compares with about 3.9 per cent for Intel Corp and 1.6 per cent for IBM Corp, which are both long-time dividend payers.

Cisco Systems Inc, which paid out its first quarterly dividend last year, also stands around 2.9 per cent. Apple Inc, which restarted dividends after a 12-year hiatus only this year, is about 1.5 per cent. Google Inc does not pay dividends.

The reduction in growth rate comes after a difficult financial year for Microsoft, which saw operating income fall 20 per cent, chiefly due to a US$6.2 billion write-off for a failed acquisition.

Microsoft's Chief Financial Officer, Peter Klein, said earlier this year that the company's dividend tends to stay in step with growth in operating income, while taking into account cash on hand. Microsoft, like Apple, has a huge cash hoard, up 19 per cent last financial year to US$63 billion, US$54 billion of which is held overseas.

Microsoft also said on Tuesday that long-time director Raymond Gilmartin, former chief executive of drug company Merck & Co, will retire from the board and not seek re-election at this year's annual meeting. Gilmartin, 71, joined the Microsoft board in 2001. — Reuters

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